The Diego Diaries: Dreadnought (dd5 28)
NOTE: Guest, I am addressing the issues of Trypticon here and I added the energy bridges too. :D I like them a lot. The leap across in the last part was to allow the humans to see the work ongoing and the effort they were making to get the dreads up and running. Sort of a surreal moment for the humans. :D
-0-In Omega near Saturn
They stood by large view ports that Omega possessed in the passenger portion of his massive hold. Outside in the vacuum of space the magnificence of Saturn filled the view. The rings which by virtue of their angle of view couldn't be seen gave the planet a strangely lonely appearance. A few degrees of movement either way and their glorious beauty would be perceived again. Ratchet knelt beside the window. "This is the planet, Saturn, the most beautiful to me in this system. Earth is beautiful too but this ringed planet is the system's glory in my opinion. I have seen a lot of ringed planets and they all have a mystery to them that fascinates."
The atmosphere in the vessel made it possible to talk together without masks. Will Lennox looked up at Ratchet. "This planet was always my favorite growing up. I never thought I would ever see it like this."
"We're going to put him in orbit several hundred thousand miles outside the rings so they aren't disturbed and Trypticon doesn't accrete any ice on his body," Ratchet said.
"You're going to use him as a support platform," the Canadian PM said. "He won't know? What will that mean to him personally? Will he be at any level aware?"
Prime considered the question. "Trypticon is a very dangerous mechanism whose sole purpose in life is to kill. That was why he was created. He is an artillery platform with an unquenchable hatred for Autobots. He is difficult for anyone to command short of Megatron. Having him here will allow us to make sure he is not rescued and pressed into service. Given his placement in the system, we would like to make use of him as a platform. It will require rebuilding him which is to his benefit. I have never had luck with convincing him to switch sides given his hatred for our faction. The only way we can do that is by reviving him with caveats. That is a dangerous proposition."
"What will it mean to him to become a platform without sentience?" Niall Graham asked.
"He won't know or remember what's happening. We're going to rebuild him to bring him up to specs and optimal condition," Ratchet said.
"It is my hope someday that we can approach him and get a better outcome than we would have right now," Prime said. "I believe in the autonomy of every individual and that the goal of freedom be their possibility, but this mechanism is an extremely dangerous individual. Only the big frames like Metroplex and the dreadnoughts can manage him when he's self-aware and free."
"I know what this looks and sounds like," Clipper said. "We live in crisis, all of us. We have to make difficult decisions. Trypticon is so violent and dangerous that we have to prioritize what we do and how we do it. Making sure that this mechanism is contained is one of them."
"It's not a decision that Prime is good at, doing what has to be done. It goes against his basic natural instinct. He's a fair minded slagger, our Optimus," Typhoon said. "When you see him, you will understand. He's a Metroplex Class slagger. He was designed and created to kill Autobots. There is no safe level of sentient activity we can allow that will be safe. That he's getting repaired and upgraded is a nice down payment on the death and destruction he's created all these long eons. That he's helpful to his people while that happens and after is justice to me. If the day comes that he's resurrected from stasis, he will be up to date and responsible for a lot of good that happens now when he's sleeping. I consider that a good tradeoff for me but then I'm a slagger's slagger myself." He grinned. "Someday, this fragger will be able to choose when we're more placed to stop him if he chooses poorly. Given what I've seen and heard of him, that is the most likely outcome."
"Wheeljack to Prime."
"Prime here."
"We're ready to go at your command. What will happen here will be that the Triggers will open a pathway to Cybertron, encircle Trypticon, stabilize him, then begin the transfer to here. It will be done by computer due to the precision necessary. It will leave Cybertron and appear here. It will take only seconds, Prime. Let us know when to go."
Prime glanced at Ratchet who nodded, then replied. "Go, Wheeljack."
They stood at the windows, beings from different worlds but all of them with the same hopes and desires for protection and freedom. There was a pause, then a flash of light some distance from Saturn appeared. It seemed to be roiling, then settled. As it did a dark figure appeared in the center of it. It held in the midst a moment, then the light winked out. Nearby following the light came another which produced a ship that flew out swiftly. They flew toward the dark object, then Wheeljack came back over the comm line. "Wheeljack to Prime."
"Prime here."
"He's here. We're going aboard. You can come now."
"On our way," Prime said. "Omega, take us to Trypticon."
"Affirmative," the deep voice of Omega replied.
The ship moved forward heading for the dark object now circling Saturn in the outer reaches of its ring system. The closer they got the clearer it became, the space station form of the sleeping giant. As they approached, they came even with the docking station for ships where a battle shuttle was already hitched to the umbilical that held it in place outside. Standing on the deck of the giant, Perceptor, Springer, Drift and Ironhide waited. Further inside the hangar at a computer station, Perceptor was working.
Omega slowed to pull alongside the station, waiting to open his hatch until the humans were cleared with their gear. When they were, it slid back, then a beam of yellow light stretched across the void to the deck nearby. Looming in front of them, the station's dark mass was gigantic. The lights of the battle shuttle filled the space in a harsh white light as Prime stepped forward on the bridge. The humans watched with astonishment as the big mech walked onward heading for the group waiting.
:What is he doing? He's walking on what? Light?: the UK PM asked.
"That's an energy bridge. It'll hold you. If it holds Prime, it'll hold you," Ratchet said as he gestured for them to go. "Would you like to ride in the carrier or walk over?"
They looked at him, then the bridge. Will Lennox stepped on it, then turned to the others. :This holds. I'm going across, Ratchet.: He turned, then walked out. It was very wide and shiny stretching all the way across and felt as strong and solid under foot as the ground would anywhere.
The humans gathered watching him go, then stepped out, standing for a moment before continuing onward. Epps glanced at Ratchet who was following. :This is crazy. There's no up and down. I feel like I'm going to float away:
:It generates enough magnetism to hold you. You won't float away but you're right. There is no up and down in space: Ratchet said as they hurried along staring all around them as the massive dark form of the beast grew larger and closer. Then it burst into light. Percy had accessed the essential features of the big bot.
When they finally reached the other side Ratchet and Ironhide put the humans into the carrier, then moved into the great hangar area of the vessel. Perceptor was still at the computer generating what they would need to get him online enough to function for their purposes. Prime and the others were with him. The humans bobbing along in their carrier listened to the conversation they were having.
"What is the status of his higher functions?"
Ratchet who had plugged in paused a moment to read his code. "He has battle damage which explains why he was put into stasis orbit. Slagging Decepticons never repair anyone. His processor is fritzing. He hasn't had the correct level of fuel in eons. I'm surprised he hasn't fallen apart and floated off in pieces. He's in deep stasis. Someone put him there to conserve his fuel levels. He's nearly dry. We have to refuel him pretty fast. It won't bring him out of the stasis lock he's in but it'll stabilize his functions and programming making his functioning and repairs easier. I think he's bearing a lock that only Megatron can activate."
"Can we override it and put in our own?" Prowl asked with a slight frown.
Pause.
"I don't know. It's pretty complex. We can download it to Teletraan after a bug scan and see what can come of its encryption processes. I don't think without having Megatron here that you're going to see the slagger waking up anytime soon. We'll put a tracer alarm on him and if anything even dares to rear its slagging head, we'll be alerted. We have some pretty intense reconstruction ahead of us. It might due to make him a tech school project and have students come here to learn how to work on sentient mechanisms with collaboration with medical and the big frame shop in the hangar district. He's going to take a lot of work to restore. He's been out of the loop almost too long, Optimus."
Prime nodded. "We need to get this going as soon as possible. What can you tell me about his fitness having been bridged from Cybertron to here?"
Perceptor looked at Prime. "We raided the data from Shockwave's database download and got all the relevant measurable data so we can compare. It would appear initially that nothing was harmed in transport. He is a cohesive mechanism with standard features so bridging isn't as difficult on his body as it could be with organic things like planets. I would say if the data keeps computing like it has so far we have a system of mass transport that is safe and secure."
"Thank you. Please continue. I want to know the depth and breadth of this technique. We should also consider if its practicable for mass rescue of migrations." He turned to the humans. "This is Trypticon. He was in stasis around Cybertron for literally generations. He is a flawed mechanism and requires massive refueling to be operational. Right now, he is in a stasis lock that we may or not be able to overcome. Given that he is, he is now inert and out of the range of anyone who might use him for their own purposes. He too will be safer here. Anyone who might try to overcome Megatron's lock sequence could damage him."
They stood on the deck discussing the situation, getting a small taste of what the gargantuan space station offered and promised. They didn't go inside. Trypticon had two symbionts, Full Tilt, a small car and Brunt who was a tank. They would have to be located and secured if necessary so the visit was cut short. It didn't matter. It made every point they needed. The walk back to Omega and the trip through the bridge was accomplished with a sendoff of the visitors following.
Optimus Prime watched them go, then walked to IntraComm to make two messages, one to Earth and one to everywhere else. They would play in the morning in both places.
-0-At a home in Virginia in the morning
Charlotte Mearing put the coffee on as she got ready to make breakfast. She was on Earth concluding some business before making the talk shows that afternoon. The build up for a big autonomous habitat was news lately so she was there to speak to it. She lived full time on Mars in the habitat, kept 'company' as she quaintly stated it with Seymour Simmons and worked fanatically hard on her brief, liaison between all human endeavors on Mars and the bots. She was also still their State Department liaison but had come to a number of conclusions that had made her a lot easier to work with. She clicked on the teevee for the morning news.
"… and so this image was found by conservatories all around the world," a news reader was saying. The screen showed a dark spot in orbit around Saturn. The relays there which took a lot of images for the humans to send to numerous educational and scientific places all over the Earth were 'down' for now with the news that Optimus Prime would be speaking shortly.
Mearing knew what was happening and soon so would Earth. The news reader paused, then continued. "We have a statement recorded earlier by Optimus Prime, the leader of the Primal Colony of Mars. We will now play it for you in direct broadcast from IntraComm through the MCA download."
The screen changed to an image of the Emblem of the Primes. That changed after a moment to the handsome solemn face of Optimus Prime. "Good morning, Earth. I am Optimus Prime …"
-0-TBC 1-28-16 edited 2-4-16
NOTES
I love notes. Guest told me a couple of things they were thinking and I have put them into this part. Sometimes I see the movie and miss a part. I also like to display the conflict in Prime about what he wants to do and what he has or should do. Given their precarious position, he sometimes has to do things that are hard or even counter to his first instinct. That he remains a good soul is testimony to that struggle. Hugs tonight, dear hearts.
Trypticon has many different universes and functions. The Beyverse uses him as a ship, the one that crash landed. That is supposed to be Trypticon transformed into the Nemesis battleship. In the games, he starts as an attack mechanism who becomes a ship. I am keeping for the sake of this story both of them as separate entities. Since he can't be in two places at the same time, I am going to make them both different characters.
Stats for Trypticon when he is the ship, Nemesis.
Estimated length: 2.5 miles- 13,200 feet/4023.36 meters
Wingspan: 1.75 miles-9240 feet/2816.352 meters
Height: 1.25 miles-6600 feet/2011.86 meters
Stats for Typhoon: (Clipper and Dangerous run these dimensions with the three younger mechs slightly smaller at 10 lengths and 1.5 mile dimensions in height and width)
Estimated length (of Typhoon, not the younger mechanisms who are smaller at 10 miles) 12 miles or 36,360 feet/11,082.528 meters
Estimated width or wingspan: 2 miles or 10,560 feet/3218.688 meters
Height in flight mode: 2 miles or 10,560 feet or 3218.688 meters
